Jeremy Casey

Justin Edinburgh has hailed the ‘phenomenal achievement’ of defender Dave Buchanan clocking up 100 consecutive starts for the Cobblers.

The 30-year-old brings up his century in the claret and white on Tuesday night in the Sky Bet League One clash with Port Vale, and his manager is impressed.

“It is an absolutely phenomenal achievement, certainly in the modern day game,” said Edinburgh, himself a left-back as a player for Southend United, Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth.

“To have gone 99 consecutive appearances, with tomorrow being his 100th, is a testament to him as a person, to the way he conducts himself, the way he trains and the way he looks after himself.

“I think he is a great example to any young player coming through, and any player that is in that first team now at a young age, can only look at him and see how it is done.

“He is an example of a true professional.

To have gone 99 consecutive appearances, with tomorrow being his 100th, is a testament to Buchs as a person, to the way he conducts himself, the way he trains and the way he looks after himself

Cobblers boss Justin Edinburgh

“His past couple of performances have been right back at it, and I am delighted to see him achieve the 100 matches in Tuesday evening’s game.”

Buchanan has been one of the first names on the teamsheet for consecutive managers in Chris Wilder, Rob Page and now Edinburgh.

He has started every game since joining the club from Preston North End in the summer of 2015, incredibly only missing 90 minutes of action in all that time.

He was taken off due to an injury at half-time of the 1-1 Sixfields draw with Leyton Orient in September, 2015, and then withdrawn at the break of the 1-1 Football League Trophy clash with West Ham Uninted Under-23s earlier this season.

Apart from those two games, he has played every single minute, of every match, and Edinburgh says that is a tribute to the player’s mentality, as he must have played when he wasn’t 100 per cent fit, and that fact virtually every game has had something really riding on it.

Buchanan was a key man as the Cobblers raced to the Sky Bet League Two title last season, and has again been the go-to man as Town have tried to establish themselves in league one.

“It is very, very rare for somebody to do this, and I think that shows the mentality of Buchs,” said the Cobblers boss “It speaks volumes of him just as a person, and as a player.

“I think what you have to realise in those 100 games, is where the club has come from, what it has achieved, and that it is still trying to progress.

“They’ve not been sort of nothing games, they have been important games, and it is a credit to him.

“He is an example of everybody coming into the game what is achievable if you do things right and you have the mentality and mindset to really push yourself, and he does that in an abundance.”